The Young Jazz Band is celebrating its 15th anniversary

I stole this title (with prior consent) from my friend, musicologist Cary Diez. This is how she named the space that she chose, within the “Dale Mambo” International Colloquium, of the Habana Mambo Festival, to celebrate the anniversary of the jazz band founded and directed by maestro Joaquín Betancourt.

At the end of the first day of the event, we spoke briefly with the maestro, and we told him that a person at fifteen years old is very young. What happens with a band at such age?

"A band at that age is still very young as well…," he answered confidently, and immediately argued: "Music is a long career and fifteen years are too short."

For him, rather than achievements and challenges accomplished, it is a constant path of learning and growth:

“When I started in music I thought I mastered many things, but you are actually learning, always. I'm even celebrating half a century in my career and I consider that I'm still learning, so imagine how much further we have to go."

The Young Jazz Band, led by the National Music Award-winner Joaquín Betancourt, has been a school for many of the musicians who stand out today in the Cuban jazz scene.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff